Judi Kay Schneider

I met Judi in 1972. At that time she was studying to be a commercial artist and working nights at Omaha National Bank. I was a full time engineering student at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. We started dating. I first met her parents in Houston, Texas at Christmas time in 1972. Her dad, Charles Greener was employed as a geophysicist with Texaco. Her mother, Margaret, held the traditional role of a homemaker. During that trip I was also introduced to her sister, Jeanne, Jeanne’s husband, Larry Poling, and their first child Kathryn, who was about two months old. Judi also had an older brother, Gary, who was in the U.S. Air Force at that time.
We were married at St. Cecilia’s Cathedral in Omaha, Nebraska on May 11, 1974. I had reduced my student status to part-time and was working full-time in a materials testing laboratory operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Judi was working as a bookkeeper for CONAGRA. During the fall of 1975, I decided to become a full-time student again. I graduated May 15, 1976 with a degree in Civil Engineering.
My first job was with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in Boulder City, Nevada. Judi worked at a company who made bar equipment and served for awhile as a Girl Scout leader. We then moved to Portland, Oregon. Afterwards we moved to Bremerton, Washington where our son, Edward was born in 1982. Our daughter, Amanda, was born in 1984 in Sparta, Wisconsin. I was working for the Army base at Ft. McCoy at that time. In 1985 we moved to Wichita, Falls Texas and in 1986 our second daughter, Gretchen was born.
Judi loyally accompanied me through additional moves to Minot, North Dakota, West Liberty, Iowa and finally to Arlington, Texas. In 1997 Judi received a double whammy. First her dad died. Then she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. We moved to Iowa in 1998 and she worked as a customer service representative for GEICO until 2005, when she was forced to retire on disability caused by the MS.
Her condition continued to worsen. In 2013, heavy rains caused a sanitary sewer backup in our Iowa house and we moved to Arlington, Texas. There Judi suffered the loss of her sister, Jeanne, in 2014, her mother in 2015, and the oldest of her sister’s children, Kathryn in 2016.
In March 2019, Judi was hospitalized because of severe muscle spasms caused by the MS. From that time until her death she was hospitalized on eight occasions and spent nearly all of the intervals between hospitalizations in nursing homes.

I first met Jude online in 2009 on a game we both played. Our chatting soon went to Skype and eventually I travelled from Ireland to Texas to meet her. That meeting for me was life changing. What started out as a once off trip became an annual trip. Jude became so much more than a friend. She was like a mom, sister and best friend all wrapped in one. I had the privilege of spending time with Jude and loved every moment of doing so. I was given the most precious gift of all and that was the gift of Jude’s time. Words cannot express the sorrow I know that you all feel at Jude’s passing. She was definitely one in a million and I will miss her more that words can express. Send you all my heartfelt sympathies to Mike, Amanda, Gretchen, their son and extended family. I know she will be watching over you all. Sending my love
Jackie

The visitation is Sunday, Nov. 29 from 4-6 at Wade funeral Home.